Hughes hails 'statement of intent' by City

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Manchester City sealed the British record transfer of Robinho from Real Madridlate on Monday night with manager Mark Hughes describing the amazing signing as 'ahuge statement of intent'.
The Brazilian international will bring his skills to Eastlands.



The Blues managed to steal the limelight from rivals Manchester United'ssuccessful pursuit of Dimitar Berbatov with the capture of the Brazil forward ina deal understood to be worth around £32million after the club moved close to atakeover by the Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment.
Hughes told Sky Sports News: 'It's been one hell of a day.
'It's a huge statement of intent. A lot of credit has got to go to Dr Thaksin(Shinawatra, the club's current chairman and owner) for being able to bring theAbu Dhabi company to the table and this huge investment that is going to goforward.
'They wanted to present something to the people of Manchester and they havebeen able to do that.
'It's a fantastic signing for us. If we're going to get to the places we wantto get to we are going to have to compete against outstanding teams. We have toattract world-class players and that is what we have done.
'He is an exceptional talent and opposition teams are going to fear him.'
Robinho's move to Eastlands will have stunned Chelsea, who remained confidentof signing the Brazilian as late as yesterday evening.
A Chelsea spokesperson said: 'We were unable to agree terms with the club(Real) as we were not going to pay the 40million euro asking price.'